


Fringe Benefits

by friskaz



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-13
Updated: 2009-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-02 15:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friskaz/pseuds/friskaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which Merlin is overworked, Gwen is awesome, it's almost Christmas, and Arthur is a hot up-and-coming Chemistry professor</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fringe Benefits

"Merlin, you coming to lunch?" Gwen asked when he finally hung up the phone with Dr Uther after explaining that, no really, he couldn't set up the new grant today because the financial database was down and wouldn't be up until Monday.

Merlin looked at her in despair. "Lunch is today? Christmas lunch?" He had 45 emails he absolutely had to reply to in some way before the end of the day, plus an insane list of files to pull and copies to make and letters to mail. And that wasn't counting the proposals due by 5 pm local time or the data entry for the 52 subaccounts on the National Science Foundation center grant he'd just received the spreadsheets for.

"Yeah, we're leaving around 11:30 to walk up to the restaurant, remember? And then after lunch we're doing the white elephant exchange," Gwen said.

"Uh, right. Crap. It's already 11:15. I didn't bring a gift," Merlin said. He put his head down on a huge stack of files which was about at neck height (most of the rest of the piles on his desk were taller) and shut his eyes. He hadn't even had time to moan about his life when the phone rang.

"Office for Sponsored Programs, this is Merlin," Merlin said, trying to sound happy to serve so he didn't get marked down for a bad attitude at his next performance evaluation.

"Merlin, yeah, can you fix the budget justification I just sent you? I realized the fringe benefit rates are all wrong and I've got some typos. And actually the first paragraph needs to be reworded, so let me just dictate that to you," Arthur said.

"Just a second, I need to open the file," Merlin sighed. Gwen was typing furiously and making wild gestures at him; he checked his gChat window when it flashed and saw she'd written: _who is it? sir arthur again? what does that punk want this time?_. _Y_ he typed back quickly, and saw her shake her head out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't like he could hang up on the guy; Arthur Pendragon was Chemistry's new golden boy, poised to take over all of Dr Uther's big center grants when he retired, extremely young for a full professor, and already had two of the five major young investigator awards with another two pending. At this rate he'd get a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering and be even more insufferable than he already was.

Plus, at least based on his publicity pictures on Chemistry's website, he was extremely attractive.

"Okay, Dr Pendragon, I can fix the fringe rates. And you've got typos in your F&amp;A statement, and your list of supplies, anything else?" he asked.

"And the first paragraph, it should say something more like, 'Professor Pendragon will commit one month summer salary to this project,'" Arthur said.

"It already says that," Merlin said, confused.

"And it needs to have Morgana, of course, because she's getting a month salary as well," Arthur continued, as if he hadn't heard Merlin at all.

Merlin flipped frantically through the budget papers on his desk. "She's not on your face page, we don't have a CV, and she's not in your budget," he said. "I don't think we have the signed OSP forms either." _Surprise co-i_ he typed to Gwen, who replied _omgwtf. asshat_ back immediately, like she'd been sitting there with the chat window open, waiting for an update. Maybe she had been, too; her grants officer wasn't crazy, like Gaius, and she usually got all of her work done in a timely fashion. It helped that she didn't have to work for the Chemistry department at all.

"Ah, well, add her, okay? She's signing the forms today, we can get them sent over by 12:30."

"OSP is closed from 11:30 to 2:30 today," Merlin said. "And your proposal is due at 5."

"Yes, well, you'll be there even though you're closed, right? Excellent," Arthur said. "Oh, and if you could get that budget line open for restricted supplies, that would be great. Thanks." He hung up the phone without waiting for a response, and Merlin sat back in his seat and stared at the receiver in his hand.

"And?" Gwen asked.

"You'll be in the office even though you're closed, right? Also, please open this illegal budget category," Merlin said, mocking Arthur's lower-pitched voice and slight British accent.

"What a jerk," Gwen said. "Do you want me to punch him?"

"Punch whom?" Gaius asked, appearing suddenly over the edge of Gwen's cubicle. Merlin could have seen him coming and warned Gwen, but he'd been busy counting up his potential overtime. "Merlin, have you finished pulling all the award notices for the list of grants I gave you?"

"Um, two are actually cost-share accounts, so there aren't any. And these three," Merlin pointed at the list, "are pretty old, so we weren't scanning and saving electronically back then. They're probably over in the underground archives."

"You can log into Commons and FastLane and download copies from there, Merlin. I'll need this done today. How is the Pendragon proposal coming?"

Gwen coughed, and Merlin couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"You both need to show a little more respect. If he was in the office and overheard you, what would you do then?" Gaius asked. "I'm guessing he was on the phone?"

"I told him we were closed today, but he said he was coming by at 12:30," Merlin said.

"Well, then you'd better be here," Gaius said.

"But-" Merlin said. "The Christmas party. That's today."

"If you skip it, maybe you can get all your work done." Gaius walked back into his office, and Merlin put his head down on his desk again.

"Yeah, right, maybe if I skip sleep and just work twenty-four hours a day, I can get all this done," he said bitterly.

"I'm caught up. Give me something to do," Gwen said. Merlin looked over at her; her mouth was drawn in a tight angry line. "Oh, what," she said, when she saw him looking. "Like you haven't saved my ass before, when you took half my proposals for the CAREER deadline, or when you fixed my cost-sharing accounts. Give me some of your stuff, and I'll skip the lunch too and we can just run out for sandwiches or something."

"Gwen," Merlin said. "You really don't have to."

"Stop whining and give me something. What are you working on, proposals? Awards? Pulling files?"

"I'm backed up on everything. I guess you can do this NSF proposal, I haven't started it yet. And I've got subcontract memos that need to be sent, they're weeks old," Merlin said, sorting through one of the piles on his desk.

Gaius stopped by on his way out the door a few minutes later. "Gwen, are you staying? You don't have to stay."

"I've got a lot of stuff to do," Gwen said, gesturing at the piles she'd taken off Merlin's desk. "If Merlin has to stay and work, then I should probably stay too. Some of this stuff is old."

"Okay, it's your choice," Gaius said, then hurried out to catch up with the rest of their coworkers.

"It's your choice," Merlin muttered. "What the hell."

"You can pay for my lunch," Gwen said, getting up to grab some papers from the printer.

"Thank you for staying and helping me get everything done, Gwen," Merlin said.

::

Gwen was super fast at subcontract memos; Merlin supposed he could be too if he really wanted to be, but he hated them, so he generally put them off until there were way too many to do and then he sat around and moaned about it, so that always took up a fair amount of time. In any case, she was finished in under an hour and it would have taken Merlin probably two hours to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Where are you going to get us lunch?" he asked, when she stood up and put her coat on.

"Us?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I'm paying, right? So can't you carry back something for me?" Merlin asked. His stomach growled loudly, because it always had impeccable timing, and Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Cash up front," she said, holding out her hand. "Bagel place okay? You want a BLT on an egg bagel, like always?"

Merlin nodded as he dug in his wallet for some bills. "You know me so well," he said. "It's like we're soul mates."

She rolled her eyes again before wrapping her scarf all the way around her head, so he couldn't see her eyes at all. She waved and headed off, and Merlin turned back to Arthur's proposal. It hadn't been that hard to edit in Morgana on the face page, and Gwen had found a recent CV from another similar proposal while Merlin pulled current awards and pending proposals reports from their database. Of course, now the budget was over the solicitation limit, so he'd have to talk to Arthur about where to cut it.

Merlin had just finished adding the information to their internal database when he heard the front desk service bell ring. He checked his watch and frowned; it was 12:25, hadn't everyone gotten the message about the office being closed? He locked his computer and headed up to the reception area; even if he couldn't do anything, it wouldn't be smart to keep someone waiting, especially not when that person kept ringing the bell every thirty seconds.

The person was bundled up in an insane amount of scarves and hats and winter coats; it was impossible to tell age or gender.

"We're closed," Merlin snapped, because he was hungry and overworked and pissed off, and the person jerked around to stare at him.

"I saw the sign on the door," the person said. "I'm looking for Merlin."

"That's me," Merlin said.

The person pushed back his hood and pulled his hat and gloves off. "I'm Arthur, Arthur Pendragon? I brought you the extra paperwork. Will we be ready to submit this today?"

"We have to be, don't we," Merlin said, making an effort to sound helpful and happy and competent and sane, all things he wasn't feeling at the moment.

"I could ask my Program Officer for an extension," Arthur said.

"What are the chances of that coming through?" Merlin asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know," Arthur admitted.

"So probably not high, then," Merlin said. "It doesn't matter. We'll get everything done, somehow."

"I expect no less," Arthur said.

Merlin was saved from making a horrible comment back when Gwen swung the door open, juggling a bag of sandwiches and chips and two soft drinks.

"Hey, did you-" Merlin started to ask.

"Root beer, yes, I know," Gwen interrupted. "You have fifteen minutes to eat, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, continuing back to her desk with her hands full but still somehow managing to shed her hat and scarf as she walked.

"You'll call me or email me about anything else you need, right?" Arthur asked. He had an odd expression on his face, but Merlin was too frustrated and hungry to try to place it.

"Yes," he replied. "Definitely. Gaius should be back at two or so, and he'll do a final review on your proposal and then submit if you're ready."

"I won't keep you, then, from your lunch," Arthur said, and he put his hat back on and strode out the door.

"He was weird," Merlin said to Gwen as he returned to his desk and accepted his bagel sandwich from her. At least eating something would help with some of the building tension, although it wouldn't clear away Arthur's pratliness or his hotter-than-his-picture-ness.

"It's Sir Arthur, what do you expect? Is his budget and everything done now?"

"Yeah - shit. Yes, but I was going to talk to him about cutting; he's over the limit now that I added Morgana's salary. Shit, maybe I can still catch him." Merlin put his sandwich back down and dashed out the door.

"Arthur!" he yelled, running flat out across the stone courtyard between the administrative towers. "Dr Pendragon! Hey, hey, stop, I need to talk to you."

Arthur turned around, and Merlin skidded on a patch of ice and slid the last couple feet, crashing into Arthur and sending them both spilling onto the ground.

"Fucking stones are always so slippery," he said.

"Get off me," Arthur said.

Merlin pulled back, apologizing profusely, and stood up, offering Arthur a helping hand.

"Did you want something?" Arthur asked.

"Um," Merlin said. The fall had knocked everything out of his head, and it was really cold, and he'd run out without a coat, and gods Arthur was hot. "Oh, your budget, it's over the limit now that we added Morgana's salary."

"You can't take her salary back off," Arthur said.

"No, of course not, but the National Science Foundation will reject this on administrative technicality if you are over the limit, and that'd be a waste of effort. Can you cut something else? Supplies, travel, publication costs, maybe a month of grad student?"

"I can't cut anything," Arthur said.

"You'd have to get permission from your program officer before we submit, is the thing, and it's already afternoon. If you don't have it you'll be out of luck," Merlin said. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't ask but it's very clear in NSF's grant policy manual."

"All right, cut ... I guess cut a bit of grad student, maybe up to a month if you have to, and then trim supplies or travel to make it fit," Arthur said grudgingly.

"Will you go out to dinner with me?" Merlin asked, then barely resisted clapping his hand over his mouth. It really was very cold; maybe the temperature was altering his brain.

"For what, the grant application?" Arthur asked.

"No, uh, just-" Merlin waved his hand around, as if that would explain what he meant.

"All right," Arthur said. "Tonight? I fancy some Thai, I think. I'll come by OSP at 6 or so."

"Okay," Merlin said, squeaking a bit. "I, uh, it's really cold, I'm going to go back inside." He waved, which was awkward even for him, and then headed back to the office, moving a bit carefully so he wouldn't slip and fall on the ice again.

"Gwen, Gwen, Gwen, help," he said as soon as he got inside, rushing back to his desk.

"Did you get him?"

"Yes, and I asked him out to dinner."

"You did what?" Gwen asked.

"I know, it just kind of happened, I don't know what I was thinking," Merlin said.

"Didn't we make a pact about not ever taking the theory of a crush on a professor into the real world?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, and I broke it, and I'm sorry, it just came out, I didn't mean to ask but then I did, and it was too late."

"And just because his picture is pretty cute doesn't mean he isn't a royal asshole," Gwen said.

"I'm pretty sure he really is a royal asshole, and he's also hotter in real life than in his picture, but I can't back out, he's already agreed, we're going tonight, and I have to fix his budget in the meantime, and I don't know what to do," Merlin said.

"Fix the budget first, get the other urgent stuff done next, and then I'll help figure out how to make you not look like a slob," Gwen suggested.

"You're a lifesaver, Gwen," Merlin said. "What would I do without you?"

"Fail?" Gwen asked, but she was smiling, and she crumpled up her napkin and threw it in the trash can. "Now, what else can I help you with?"

**Author's Note:**

> For [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/cliche_bingo/profile)[**cliche_bingo**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/cliche_bingo/), wildcard space, using prompt "contemporary AU". Thanks to S for rephrasing my technical terms.


End file.
